Dalglish points at media

Kenny Dalglish has implied media scrutiny played a part in inciting Saturday lunchtime's feisty match between Liverpool and Man United.

Last Updated: 12/02/12 2:08pm

Kenny Dalglish has implied media scrutiny played a part in inciting Saturday lunchtime's feisty match between Liverpool and Manchester United.

The Scot's side lost 2-1 at Old Trafford, but the game was overshadowed by Luis Suarez's refusal to shake hands with Patrice Evra in the compulsory pre-match routine.

It appeared Suarez, who was starting his first fixture since returning from an eight-game ban for racially abusing the Frenchman, stoked the already unpleasant atmosphere as a consequence.

A nasty scuffle between both players of United and Liverpool outside the dressing rooms required police intervention at half-time, while Evra's post-match celebrations also came under scrutiny.

But Dalglish does not think Suarez's refusal to shake hands was responsible and has instead pointed towards the media attention, which was not present two weeks ago for the FA Cup tie between the two clubs, which the forward missed due to his suspension.

Asked if he needs to take a look at Suarez's refusal to shake hands and questioned whether it subsequently set the tone for what happened in the match, Dalglish told Sky Sports HD2: "I think you are very severe and are bang out of order to blame Luis Suarez for anything that happened here today.

Banter

"I think predominately both sets of fans behaved really well. They had a bit of banter between each other - no problem."

Dalglish also said: "You know something else, when we had the FA Cup tie, because there wasn't a 24-hour news channel in the build-up to the game, nothing like this happened."

Asked if he was blaming the news channel, the Liverpool manager said: "I'm just saying, it was a bit tight trying to get through there (outside the dressing rooms).

"I don't know what happened in there, because I was here. If you want to know what happened in there, ask someone else that was there, because I wasn't."

Dalglish had also claimed he was not aware Suarez had refused to shake hands with Evra before the match.

"I never knew he never shook his hand," he said.

"I'll take your word for it. But I don't know. I wasn't there. I never saw it. That is contrary to what I was told."